Miami Heat sophomore Kendrick Nunn believes he should have won the 2020 Rookie of the Year award over Memphis Grizzlies star Ja Morant.
“Of course!” Nunn told Alex Kennedy of BasketballNews.com on if he should have won the prestigious award. “Of course I should’ve won. I mean, if you think about it, [when have we seen] someone who was under the radar and who nobody knew and then they win multiple Rookie of the Months and has a season like that? It’s really rare for an undrafted player to perform like that and have the kind of season that I had. Obviously, it’s expected that a lottery pick — the No. 1 pick or No. 2 pick or No. 3 pick — will win that award. So, just from a ‘shocking-the-world’ thing, I feel like I should’ve won.”
Nunn, 25, wasn’t shy about his desire to capture the Rookie of the Year award last season.
Furthermore, Nunn’s teammates campaigned for him to bring home the honor over Morant. The Grizzlies guard laughed off Nunn’s proclamation that he deserved the award.
In the end, Morant got the trophy while Nunn finished second in voting.
During his rookie season, Nunn collected 15.3 points, 3.3 assists and 2.7 boards per game. As for Morant, he put up 17.8 points, 7.3 assists and 3.9 rebound per game during his rookie campaign.
Morant, who was the No. 2 pick in the 2019 NBA Draft, nearly led the Grizzlies to the postseason last year. The Grizzlies are the No. 7 seed in the Western Conference this season.